Bright Ideas: A School-Based Program Teaching Optimistic Thinking Skills in Pre-Adolescence

Abstract

Research into the areas of depression and resilience suggests that an optimistic attributional style is a key factor in coping effectively with stressors and functioning adaptively despite adversity. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a program designed to increase positive thinking skills, through awareness and practice, to pre-adolescent children who have been identified as exhibiting a more pessimistic explanatory style. From a total of 110 Year 5 and 6 students, 38 students were selected to participate in the program because they exhibited a more pessimistic explanatory style. Program participants were administered the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) at pre-, p..